Advertising Lessons From The World Of Pickleball – Advertising, Marketing & Branding

I’ll start by admitting that I don’t know anything about
the game of pickleball. Using the word “basketball” as an
example and working backwards by breaking the word
“pickleball” into its component parts, I can make an
educated guess about what implements are used in the game. But
maybe I’d be wrong. That’s why it may make sense to consult
experts.

One such group of experts are the people at USA Pickleball (or
“USAP”), an organization whose mission it is to
“promote the development and growth of pickleball in the
United States and its territories.” USAP also certifies some
of the paddles that, much to my surprise, are used to play the
game. So much for my etymological guesswork.

In 2023, Joola submitted various paddles to USAP for approval,
and USAP approved them. Joola then produced tens of thousands of
paddles stamped with the words “Approved by USAP.” Due to
an “administrative error,” though, those weren’t the
same paddles that USAP had approved. A few days before the
unapproved paddles were supposed to go on sale, USAP notified Joola
that the paddles did not comply with USAP regulations. Joola sold
them anyway.

The consequences of using an unapproved paddle in a pickleball
game aren’t clear to me, but a Florida man who purchased two of
those paddles was pretty angry about it and filed a lawsuit against
Joola. (USAP claims that pickleball is America’s
fastest-growing sport, but I’m not sure if they’re
factoring the sport of filing lawsuits into that analysis.) The
lawsuit claims that Joola had engaged in a “deceptive and
fraudulent scheme,” which violated Florida’s false
advertising laws, among other things.

Last month, a court denied Joola’s motion to dismiss the
false advertising claim, noting that the Florida man had properly
pled that Joola had engaged in a deceptive act.
“Certainly,” the court explained, “improperly
labeling a product as certified by USAP causes a consumer who wants
to purchase a USAP certified paddle to purchase a paddle they
otherwise would not have purchased.” Other claims were
dismissed, but the core of the case will move forward.

We don’t know what happened behind the scenes, but it’s
possible that Joola found itself in a pickle here. What would you
do if your company had inadvertently manufactured tens of thousands
of products with a claim that wasn’t accurate? Not selling
those products has a cost but, as this case demonstrates, so does
selling those products. We’ve had some clients try to cover up
the problematic claims to reduce risk, but that’s not always
possible.

What can you learn from this case? First, you can’t judge a
book by its cover (or a game by its name, if you will). But equally
important is that you need to carefully manage your claims and
certifications and make sure you’re using them accurately in
your marketing. Outside the world of pickleball, we’re seeing
this issue come up frequently in the world of green claims,
particularly when companies market products that haven’t been
certified in the same space they market products that are
certified.

This image had to be generated by AI because, apparently, these
are not the implements used in pickleball. Now you know.

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